


Overcoming

by LilithFairen



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Gen, Magical Girls, Plot Twists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:08:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26553346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilithFairen/pseuds/LilithFairen
Summary: Aimee Verlaine never believed the four younger girls who came to stand alongside her as magical girls could ever bear the burden placed upon them.One last burden remains to be lifted.
Kudos: 4





	Overcoming

Aimee never thought the day would come that they would be together like this, beneath a bright sunny sky, the five of them as well as the rest of the world freed from the threat of the shadows encroaching upon humanity. The four younger girls—the eldest among them had to be only fourteen, right?—stood before her, with small smiles upon their lips.

“Aimee,” said Rebecca, her hands together upon her chest, “I’m thankful for everything you’d taught me, everything we’ve learned from you. I know you used to think we were a bunch of brats, but I knew you cared for us. You were always worried for us…”

Worried for her, most of all. The same day their lives had intertwined, Rebecca had stumbled into Aimee while carrying a stack of textbooks, scattering them all over the floor. When Fiora had pleaded for Rebecca to help Aimee during an attack from the darkness, Aimee had almost snapped at the fairy for wanting to recruit such a scatter-brained kid. Yet while Rebecca had never lost that air of ditziness and awkwardness that had initially frustrated Aimee, her focus and resolve as Feyknight Camellia had come as a surprise to Aimee.

“I didn’t think any of them would make it.”

Nefili inched forward. “A-Aimee…” She chuckled, in that way she always did when speaking to someone elder. “That day you saved me from the darkness, when I thought I was going to be its prisoner forever… I wanted to be a Feyknight just like you and Rebecca, to save people just like you saved me…”

Even now, Nefili didn’t look like the sort who’d save anyone. She was the most petite of the bunch; she could have passed for a twelve-year-old among the others. Aimee had argued with Fiora after the fairy had granted the little girl a Feyknight’s Brand, the mystical flower emblem that gave her the power to become Feyknight Hydrangea. A bookworm like her had no place as a warrior against the darkness, yet where Nefili lacked natural physique, she more than compensated with her wisdom and insight. Sometimes she was even a better thinker against their foes than Aimee herself…

“I’d always thought they were too weak…”

A sniffle left Maemi before she managed to speak; she always choked up at even the slightest emotional moment. “The more I learned about the darkness, the more certain I became that my heart was an easy target for it. But everything you told me about me, about your own struggles…it gave me confidence. Because if you’d been in my shoes once, then…then someday I could grow up to be in your shoes, Aimee.”

Difficult family lives, struggling at school, bullying—there were many things that led the darkness to a human’s heart…and that led a human heart to darkness. The more Maemi had confided in Aimee, the more Aimee had come to fear either coming to pass. When the shadows had enveloped Maemi’s home, the three other Feyknights and Aimee gathered before the darkness-wreathed structure, Aimee had feared she hadn’t steeled the girl’s heart enough. But even though within was a nightmare meant to break Maemi, to turn Feyknight Amaryllis to the darkness, the girl had withstood the darkness’s assault on her heart—and the five of them together had broken the aura over her home.

“…they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into…”

As Maemi sniffled again, Nazakat put an arm around her friend’s shoulder. “You helped all of us realize things about ourselves, Aimee. Not just as protectors of our world, but as human beings. If it wasn’t for you, I might not have admitted how I felt to Maemi. I…I can’t thank you enough for everything.”

Nazakat had been the most concealed from Aimee, as if her older friend intimidated her. If she couldn’t be brave enough around an ordinary human, Aimee had said to Fiora, then clearly she wasn’t suited to be a Feyknight. When she’d pressured Nazakat to try to figure out what her problem was, Nazakat had fled—right into the possessing grasp of the darkness. It was only after the other four had saved her that Nazakat had conceded why Aimee unnerved her so…and for a moment Aimee had actually been flattered. For a moment, she’d understood the fear of coming out that Nazakat carried. She’d encouraged Nazakat to find support in her comrades…not expecting that the one who’d become Feyknight Gladiolus’s love was one of her fellow magical girls.

“…t-they knew all along, didn’t they? The forces they were pitting themselves against, the threat they bore to everyone and everything they knew. What would happen if they failed. That the darkness might bewitch them, take control of them, even…”

After how little she’d thought of the girls before her, Aimee couldn’t believe the words wouldn’t come out of her own lips. Especially with the strength that the four girls before her were showing…

That seemed to falter just a bit, as a sob left Rebecca’s throat. As Nefili wiped her eyes, Rebecca said in a low voice, “Why can’t her parents know the truth? About…about what a hero their daughter was? About how she saved the world?”

Nazakat put a hand on her shoulder. “They do know. Didn’t you see them earlier today?”

“When you were talking about how much Aimee’s friendship meant to you,” Maemi said, “to all of us…they were crying, but they were smiling.”

“They realized what a great girl Aimee was,” Nefili added. “They were proud of her, of everything she’d achieved, everything she’d accomplished. All the lives she’d brightened.”

“I’m sure they would be honoured to know their daughter’s feats,” Fiora said, fluttering beside Aimee, “but I thank you for understanding the need for my kind to remain secret.”

All they knew… What did her parents know? Had the doctors been able to give any sort of explanation of what had happened to their daughter? Could they have seen within her to glimpse the magic so foul it’d pierced her spectral armour, all but burned away her very soul?

Rebecca bowed her head, her body trembling. “If it wasn’t for her…we would have never…”

“She saved all of us that day…” Nazakat said, nodding.

“Sometimes I couldn’t get out of bed,” said Nefili, “wondering if…if any more of us would…”

“I’m sure she was watching over us,” Maemi added solemnly. “I’m sure she’ll always be with us. The least we can do to honour her is to be as strong as she taught us to be.”

“Of course,” Rebecca replied, her voice low and airy. “Girls…thank you for everything. I thought I’d never muster the will to don my brand again, but all of you being there for me…”

“We got through all of it together,” Nefili said.

“Together,” followed Nazakat and Maemi’s voices.

“T-together…” Aimee echoed.

The girls stood together for a minute longer, until Rebecca said, “We’d better catch up to our parents.” She glanced over her shoulder, and for a moment Aimee thought she was staring at her. At her teary face. “Fiora, are you ready?”

“May I have a moment longer?” asked Fiora.

“Of course,” said Nazakat. “Take all the time you need.”

The four girls walked away, and Fiora approached Aimee…where the four had stood mere moments before. Aimee stepped closer, staring down to the ground.

She fell to her knees, and she wept. She didn’t know how long she cried for. Perhaps it was longer than any of her friends had mourned.

When her hands finally lifted away from her face, when the sobs stopped but the tears still flowed, a smile had spread over her lips. Fiora rested upon the ground, such an unusual thing for the fairy. The yellow flowers it had held laid at its feet, against the stone.

“They always knew it might be them,” Aimee said softly. “Maybe even all of them. All of humankind. Even when it became all too real. But they kept fighting. Even after tragedy, they found the strength to fight on.”

Fiora turned to Aimee, smiling. “Humans are capable of remarkable resilience and strength. Of surprising growth and responsibility. Sometimes the world places such a great burden upon them, that even those closest to them could never imagine them bearing its weight.”

Aimee nodded, and found herself giggling. The way she’d started to over Rebecca’s antics…over how cute Nazakat and Maemi were together…over how flustered Nefili got sometimes…

She rose to her feet, her eyes wide and bright before she closed them. For all they had said she had given them, what they had given Aimee most was hope. For them, for the future. For everyone their bright hearts would shine upon.

A sudden breeze ruffled the grass around the stone, and the petals that formed Fiora’s hair. Alone, the fairy floated away from the dandelions placed before her, resting at the foot of the stone that read:

Aimee Lucinda Verlaine  
February 29, 2002 - May 14, 2019  
A truly magical daughter  
A guiding beacon to all who knew her

**Author's Note:**

> This short story covers a trope that I'm very much not fond of in the magical-girl stories it typically appears in. All too often, fans of dark magical-girl "deconstructions" will argue that its critics dislike the subgenre simply because it is dark, for the mere inclusion of elements such as the protagonists dying. Along with ignoring how many traditional stories in the magical-girl genre have included darker elements, including protagonist death, the problem doesn't lie with the "what" but rather the "how".
> 
> Dark magical-girl "deconstructions" that involve character death typically kill off their magical girls in ignominious fashions, reducing a character archetype about girls being heroes into helpless and vulnerable victims. Their deaths typically result from a foolishness or incompetence inconsistent with how lethal being a magical girl is known to be in their settings—it's common to establish the initial sacrificial character(s) as veteran magical girls, further making their naivety all the more nonsensical. Whereas traditional stories in the genre are about overcoming life's challenges, death in dark magical-girl "deconstructions" is typically used to establish the girls' inability to overcome. The problem isn't that dark magical-girl "deconstructions" often have magical girls die; the problem is that almost none of them can have magical girls die as more than weak, naive victims.
> 
> I wrote Overcoming because I wanted to write a story about how magical girls aren't a bunch of delusional children who think nothing bad could possibly happen to them, as most dark magical-girl "deconstructions" treat them. I wanted a story where the death of a close friend, one of their fellow magical girls, is an immense tragedy to the magical girls—but one they're capable of overcoming, of carrying on afterwards, even if the loss of a loved one is something that continues to hurt long after their passing. And I wanted to write a story about how it's entirely possible to write a story about a magical girl who dies because she's a hero putting her life at risk for others—not because she's a incompetent and foolish girl who gets fixated on stupid drama or forgets she has superhuman speed and reflexes.
> 
> This is probably a bit of a ramble, but thank you for reading Overcoming nonetheless.


End file.
